"Music is bigger than words and wider than pictures." The most powerful set of words put to ominous, soothing static before the gentile rolling bass sets in.
Oh Mogwai, how I love thee. Let me count the ways...
Having recently purchased Young Team, Mogwai's debut album, in it's repackaged 10th anniversary edition, I felt it necessary to remind myself why Mogwai - of all the post rock options out there - seem to have such an effect on me. Travelling back from Tunbridge Wells to Archway, Young Team soundtracks the journey. Every rubble strewn garden, each smoke chimney stack spouting out billious white clouds, masquerading as cumulus, each wandering soul following their own path - it's all filtered through Mogwai's anti-melodies (melodies which don't seem melodic, but rather rhythmic and elemental rather than harmonic and emotional) and heart-stopping, thunderous dynamics. Like Herod, for instance, scares the shit out of me.
My first experience of Mogwai was a chance purchase of Come On Die Young. The first track, Punk Rock, is one of the most thrilling, brooding and intense openers to any album. Iggy Pop's fascinating monologue about the violence and freedom of his music running counterpoint to a carefully plucked arpeggio ringing throughout, it's truly one of my favourite pieces of music.
Mogwai are a constant - they don't need to reinvent or innovate - they simply exist and seethe. Their first four records are sublime, with Rock Action and Happy Songs For Happy People all containing highlights. Mr Beast is certainly a great record too, but at this point they've said all they've needed to say - now they are simply satellites orbiting around a sphere they helped create with chunks of their creativity, and consistently threaten to tear away from the gravitational pull.
Here's an example of why Mogwai should never go unheard.
If you haven't fallen in love with this, maybe music isn't your thing.
A 10 track mixtape, which will accompany all bands who have more than one album release.
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/2zxpX4XLr2Ojq9AHsp6Kah
1) Punk Rock (from Come On Die Young)
2) Like Herod (from Young Team)
3) Killing All the Flies (from Happy Songs For Happy People)
4) We're No Here (from Mr Beast)
5) Sine Wave (from Rock Action)
6) You Don't Know Jesus (from Rock Action)
7) My Father The King (from My Father The King single)
8) Helicon 2 (Max Tundra Remix) (from Kicking A Dead Pig: Mogwai Songs Remixed)
9) Kappa (from Come On Die Young)
10) Mogwai Fear Satan (from Young Team)
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Monday, 29 December 2008
Band of the Day - 01: Foot Village
Hello. Because every blog does it, I'm doing it too. I'm choosing a band a day every day, per day. Because I can. Also because I want to show how much I give a shit about trends, hype and looking for the NEXT BIG THING, each band will be what I want to talk about, whether they're new in 2009 or were new in 1934. I don't care.
Anyway, one of my favourite singles of 2008 was Clubtraxxx by Foot Village. (Go dig up the Artrocker copy with it in - it's clearly the best single review of the year). Can you see why I love them so?
Anyway, one of my favourite singles of 2008 was Clubtraxxx by Foot Village. (Go dig up the Artrocker copy with it in - it's clearly the best single review of the year). Can you see why I love them so?
Rants In D Minor
Musical movements Brad doesn't understand:
1) Dubstep
Isn't this just garage and two-step in a headon collision with grime? Perhaps one of the least exciting genres of dance music ever.
2) The New Eccentrics
The new No Name?
3) Darkwave
BOTH versions of it. There has been little good music from the current trend for wearing black and making a boring, droney racquet. Go listen to Earth or Sunno))) you fucking bores.
4) Anti-Folk
But...you sound like folk to me!
1) Dubstep
Isn't this just garage and two-step in a headon collision with grime? Perhaps one of the least exciting genres of dance music ever.
2) The New Eccentrics
The new No Name?
3) Darkwave
BOTH versions of it. There has been little good music from the current trend for wearing black and making a boring, droney racquet. Go listen to Earth or Sunno))) you fucking bores.
4) Anti-Folk
But...you sound like folk to me!
Monday, 22 December 2008
My End-Of-Year In Lists
From the snappy, clever, witty Los Campesinos! related title to the final, award winning (I gave it to myself, alright?) sentence at the end, this is clearly going to be the most important thing you'll read all year.
First I'd like to take time out to reassure you that this will NOT be my Top billion albums of 2008. For that go to www.myspace.com/playmusicpickup to see my Top 5's. What it wil be though is a list, in no particular order, of the albums that got little or no attention whatsoever. Knicked wholesale from Drowned In Sound, my list is different to theirs, just so no one notices. Oops.
School of Seven Bells - Alpinism
Cursed with the late-in-the-year (better than being Late Of The Pier - arf) syndrome, this glorious shoegaze scenic-scope debut - featuring an ex member of the godawful Secret Machines - is actually one of the best things I've heard in ages. Painted with the scrapings of Alpine air, it feels as if it's floating above and beyond most people's pop horizons. Forget MGMT (if you can stop being reminded about them every ten seconds by EVERY list this year), this was the soaring pop gem of 2008.
The Chap - Mega Breakfast
Making as much sense as trying to literally split hairs, The Chaps electronic-leaning hyper-eclectic blend is both fascinating and hilarious. Taking themselves seriously about a tenth of an iota, this playful, explosive and innovative record shouldn't be ignored. This band has been around for ages, and this record represents the point where they became an extremely engaging concern for the UK.
Shield Your Eyes - Shield Your Eyes
Seriously, I've been banging on about these lot for an age. Why? Because I adore Meet Me In St Louis, one of the saddest losses of the year. Still, never mind because Toby found himself with long-term musician buddy Stef and formed one of the most violently surprising prospects I've seen in ages. Their album was recorded live, in a circle with mics dangling from the ceiling. Stef practically tore his guitar apart playing the songs - bending the neck, tearing strings off, detuning, his rapid-fire Rory Gallagher-inspired blues-esque attack laden with extreme pinch harmonics and off key chords. His rough vocals leave room for Toby's effortless delivery. THe whole package - octopus percussion, dramatic bass riffs - all feel like the collapse of sanity, yet represent heartbreak, love and an enormous amount of passion. It needs to be channelled through many, many ears.
Rings - Black Habit
A feminist boxing glove of an album, its occasionally improvised nature means tunes dwindle and skate around the outside of accepted harmony - which is naturally a very good thing. Speaking of natural, it all feels like the whole album flows even in the face of musical obstacles. It's a flood that threatens to rise and rise until you're engulfed. You soon are, and there's little you can do but get carried away.
Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
Perhaps more well known than the others above due to the band's association with The Smell - and by extention, No Age, HEALTH and Mika Miko - yet no one bothered to point out that its wild experiments within a strangely tropical wasteland was an overwhelmingly positive thing in 2008. It could be compared to another inescapable record (Vampire Weekend's debut) yet, ambiguously, it's so far removed in approach, ambition and vibe that they may aswell be alien languages in comparison to each other. This, as you may well know, is a VERY good thing, regardless if you like VW or not.
Frank Turner - Love, Ire and Song
Criminally demolished by critics, these people just aren't listening with their hearts. I find it hard to abandon my emotions when indulging in music, so it's obvious that Frank's passionate, poignant and amusing tales of excess, heartbreak and life would hit a resonating key. Yes, his lyrics are skillfully moulded pottery with ornate artwork carefully painted upon them within a ramshackle house of rock, but that house is a fun, melodic and vibrant place. Mandolins, timpani and fiddles give streaks of colour to solid songwriting that should capture the hearts and minds of anyone who's ever had any experience of life, good or bad.
These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid
So it took six months to get it into this journo's stubborn skull that this band have produced one of the most exciting debuts in recent times, but I got there. It's the brutality of simplicity. Drums are singular, purposeful thuds; electronics are subtle or seething; samples are blaring urban mayhem; guitars are stuttery, post-punk bleakness - and the vocals. The vocals are strident, walking tall amongst a clutter of menacing shadows - it's a young man walking down an alley spitting out the most insane couplets to all and sundry, DARING them to challenge him. Brave bold and boastful, it's worth it's entire weight in soul.
This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You
While I could never claim to be a wild fan of post-rock, I definitely adore certain records. This one has yet to settle into my mind yet it's beauty, severeness and boiling fury hasn't passed me by. It's an album where the sounds of the universe turning are more important than the microcosm of Earth. It resonates frighteningly with each listen and, like Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and Do Make Say Think before them, there's no doubt that instrumental music speaks volumes to those attuned to it.
I defy you not to love these records. They are just as worthy of being in any Top 10 records of 2008, but they are, by and large, not. Not even my own, and I feel ashamed of that. Actually, SYE is, but I've only just discovered School of Seven Bells and the others lit up my year more than most records. Notable mentions to Gang Gang Dance, Autechre and about twenty other incredible records. This may need updating tomorrow.
First I'd like to take time out to reassure you that this will NOT be my Top billion albums of 2008. For that go to www.myspace.com/playmusicpickup to see my Top 5's. What it wil be though is a list, in no particular order, of the albums that got little or no attention whatsoever. Knicked wholesale from Drowned In Sound, my list is different to theirs, just so no one notices. Oops.
School of Seven Bells - Alpinism
Cursed with the late-in-the-year (better than being Late Of The Pier - arf) syndrome, this glorious shoegaze scenic-scope debut - featuring an ex member of the godawful Secret Machines - is actually one of the best things I've heard in ages. Painted with the scrapings of Alpine air, it feels as if it's floating above and beyond most people's pop horizons. Forget MGMT (if you can stop being reminded about them every ten seconds by EVERY list this year), this was the soaring pop gem of 2008.
The Chap - Mega Breakfast
Making as much sense as trying to literally split hairs, The Chaps electronic-leaning hyper-eclectic blend is both fascinating and hilarious. Taking themselves seriously about a tenth of an iota, this playful, explosive and innovative record shouldn't be ignored. This band has been around for ages, and this record represents the point where they became an extremely engaging concern for the UK.
Shield Your Eyes - Shield Your Eyes
Seriously, I've been banging on about these lot for an age. Why? Because I adore Meet Me In St Louis, one of the saddest losses of the year. Still, never mind because Toby found himself with long-term musician buddy Stef and formed one of the most violently surprising prospects I've seen in ages. Their album was recorded live, in a circle with mics dangling from the ceiling. Stef practically tore his guitar apart playing the songs - bending the neck, tearing strings off, detuning, his rapid-fire Rory Gallagher-inspired blues-esque attack laden with extreme pinch harmonics and off key chords. His rough vocals leave room for Toby's effortless delivery. THe whole package - octopus percussion, dramatic bass riffs - all feel like the collapse of sanity, yet represent heartbreak, love and an enormous amount of passion. It needs to be channelled through many, many ears.
Rings - Black Habit
A feminist boxing glove of an album, its occasionally improvised nature means tunes dwindle and skate around the outside of accepted harmony - which is naturally a very good thing. Speaking of natural, it all feels like the whole album flows even in the face of musical obstacles. It's a flood that threatens to rise and rise until you're engulfed. You soon are, and there's little you can do but get carried away.
Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
Perhaps more well known than the others above due to the band's association with The Smell - and by extention, No Age, HEALTH and Mika Miko - yet no one bothered to point out that its wild experiments within a strangely tropical wasteland was an overwhelmingly positive thing in 2008. It could be compared to another inescapable record (Vampire Weekend's debut) yet, ambiguously, it's so far removed in approach, ambition and vibe that they may aswell be alien languages in comparison to each other. This, as you may well know, is a VERY good thing, regardless if you like VW or not.
Frank Turner - Love, Ire and Song
Criminally demolished by critics, these people just aren't listening with their hearts. I find it hard to abandon my emotions when indulging in music, so it's obvious that Frank's passionate, poignant and amusing tales of excess, heartbreak and life would hit a resonating key. Yes, his lyrics are skillfully moulded pottery with ornate artwork carefully painted upon them within a ramshackle house of rock, but that house is a fun, melodic and vibrant place. Mandolins, timpani and fiddles give streaks of colour to solid songwriting that should capture the hearts and minds of anyone who's ever had any experience of life, good or bad.
These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid
So it took six months to get it into this journo's stubborn skull that this band have produced one of the most exciting debuts in recent times, but I got there. It's the brutality of simplicity. Drums are singular, purposeful thuds; electronics are subtle or seething; samples are blaring urban mayhem; guitars are stuttery, post-punk bleakness - and the vocals. The vocals are strident, walking tall amongst a clutter of menacing shadows - it's a young man walking down an alley spitting out the most insane couplets to all and sundry, DARING them to challenge him. Brave bold and boastful, it's worth it's entire weight in soul.
This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You
While I could never claim to be a wild fan of post-rock, I definitely adore certain records. This one has yet to settle into my mind yet it's beauty, severeness and boiling fury hasn't passed me by. It's an album where the sounds of the universe turning are more important than the microcosm of Earth. It resonates frighteningly with each listen and, like Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and Do Make Say Think before them, there's no doubt that instrumental music speaks volumes to those attuned to it.
I defy you not to love these records. They are just as worthy of being in any Top 10 records of 2008, but they are, by and large, not. Not even my own, and I feel ashamed of that. Actually, SYE is, but I've only just discovered School of Seven Bells and the others lit up my year more than most records. Notable mentions to Gang Gang Dance, Autechre and about twenty other incredible records. This may need updating tomorrow.
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